Jaromir Jagr has not played a shift in
an NHL game since the end of the 2008 season with the New York Rangers, but the
nostalgia of bringing back 68 is rising daily right now. During the 2011 IIHF World Championships he
has five goals, three assists in seven games, including a hat-trick yesterday
to eliminate Team USA. While the
hat-trick was great to watch for fans of Jagr yesterday, let us also put into
perspective that is was scored against a very B type squad the USA had out
there including Ty Conklin who is a backup netminder. The Rangers are looking for someone who is a
legitimate star type forward and while at 39-years-old Jagr is not what he was
earlier in his career he still has something left in the tank. The question with Jagr will be what it was
when he left three years ago; money.
Jagr didn’t leave the NHL because he couldn’t
play at a high level in the league anymore.
Rather he left because no one would pay him what he wanted to be
here. Having played three years with
Avangard Omsk maybe he is willing to take less than he would have during the
summer of 2008 to end his stellar career with one last run in the NHL. That run would not be as the player who had
646 goals and 1,599 points in just 1,273 games in his career, or even the one
who put up a 25-56-71 line in his final season with New York, but he could
easily be a 20-35-55 player with the rules in the NHL today.
Jagr hasn’t committed to where he would
like to play next season:
“It’s too early for me, I don’t really know what I want to do next year,” Jagr said Tuesday. “I don’t know where I want to play. Right now I just want to concentrate for this tournament, it’s not going to be more than one week.”
If Jagr does decide to return to the
NHL the Rangers should be interested if the price is right. He can add a veteran presence to the room,
leadership and a voice for the young players who might never see half of what
he has seen on and off the ice. What he
can bring on the ice is a skilled player that has chemistry with Dubinsky and
can help to fix the struggling power play.
On a one year deal, especially if the Rangers don’t get Brad Richards,
this is a stop-gap move that helps them next season and risks nothing from the
future.
